10 best bowl games in the history of college football

5. 1980 Holiday Bowl – BYU vs. SMU

There have been a ton of wild finishes in bowl games, and there will be more on this list, but nothing is as wild as the 1980 Holiday Bowl. BYU had lost the two previous Holiday Bowls and were still looking for their first bowl win in program history. Standing in their way this time was #19 SMU and a young version of the Eric Dickerson and Craig James Pony Express.

The Mustangs put it on the Cougars most of the game as James and Dickerson combined for 335 yards and five total touchdowns. And with less than three minutes to go, SMU has a 45-25 lead and what had to be a 99.9 percent win probability.

That one percent end up being powerful as the Cougars quickly scored with 2:35 left, and from that point, chaos ensued. After a successful onside kick, the Cougars got the ball back and promptly scored again along with a two-point conversion to trim the lead to 45-39. However, they could not recover a second onside attempt, so, despite a scare, SMU looked like they were still going to win. The Cougars defense had other plans, though, as they forced the Mustangs to punt and then proceed to block the punt and give their offense the ball back with one last chance.

QB Jim McMahon dropped back and heaved a pass into the endzone, where Clay Brown came down with it over multiple defenders to tie the game and give BYU a miracle win after the extra point.

Twenty-one points in less than three minutes gave BYU their first bowl victory, and SMU is probably still trying to figure out how the lost that game.